A lawyer for the state of Arizona told a federal judge on Monday it’s too bad, but not illegal, that the state will not recognize a Green Valley man as the survivor of the man he legally married in California.

Severe flooding shut down interstates, stranded motorists and caused huge traffic backups around the Valley on Monday. But despite the problems, the Maricopa County Flood Control District’s 140 structures and 22 dams were operating normally.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco heard oral arguments Monday on same-sex marriage bans in Idaho, Nevada and Hawaii. The court’s decision is likely to impact other state laws as well, including Arizona’s ban on same-sex marriage.

The proposed Interstate 11 freeway that would connect Phoenix and Las Vegas has cleared another important hurdle. Nevada’s Transportation Board has passed a final feasibility study for the project and mapped out the direction the route would take between Vegas and Reno.

The sun has poked through the clouds this afternoon, but more than five inches of rain fell over parts of the Valley today, according to the National Weather Service. That’s a single day record. Schools were closed, and so were roads, businesses and state government offices. And an area of South Phoenix is still recovering from flooding last month.

Parts of Arizona are under emergency declarations after record-setting rainfall this morning. Storms that flooded roads and led to several water rescues set an all-time record for rainfall in Phoenix in a single day. Mayor Greg Stanton warns residents they need to be alert in case there’s more rain.

A year ago we reported on a partnership between ASU, the Translational Genomics Research Institute, or TGen, and football equipment maker Riddell to research impacts to the head. The research project has resumed for another season.

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